Create a collaborative culture to embrace digital transformation together

When it comes to developing the workforce of the future, digital competence matched with exceptional soft skills will characterise the team of tomorrow.

That’s the view of Freeformers Co-Founders and Partners Emma Cerrone and Adam Freeman, who believe the Future of Work relies on creating a workplace that inspires teamwork, not isolation.

“Soft skills must come first,” they say. “Communication, teamwork and empathy all contribute to an effective collaborative culture. Then come the hard digital skills. Given the extent to which technology will be integrated into the future world of work, every company needs specialist skills, but not everyone has to be an expert.”

According to research carried out by Facebook, more than two-thirds (69%) of C-suite executives believe that company culture, especially transparency in internal communications, is critical to their organisation’s ability to realise its mission and vision. Indeed, Facebook is something of a trailblazer when it comes to fostering new collaborative digital cultures at work with the success of their new platform, Facebook Workplace

Incumbent companies are already learning from startup culture, fostering maximum experimentation and accepting failure as the route to finding success. As the mantra once painted on the wall of Facebook’s HQ said: “Done is better than perfect!”

And when a recent Deloitte survey asked C-suite executives for their perspectives on the future of work, their responses revealed the need for a significant transformation over the next five years; as only 14% of the leaders questioned were completely satisfied with their organisation’s current ability to communicate and collaborate.

The survey also said four in 10 respondents expected to increasingly place more focus on facilitating the flow and exchange of ideas while providing greater autonomy at team and individual levels.

In our latest Freeformers Mapping the Digital Future report, Phil Smith, Chairman of Cisco UK and Ireland, outlined the benefits of working collaboratively towards a common goal, blending cultures of collaboration with diverse ways of thinking and doing.

He said: “Companies must create fluid, dynamic teams that provide new viewpoints and skills. Equally, they must seek opportunities through partnerships and networking.

“Attitude is a part of this; rather than thinking of it as a superior working with a subordinate — we see everyone as peers, working together towards a common goal.”

Learn even more about digital and workforce transformation by catching up with previous articles from the Freeformers Changing the Future of Work Mindset top 10 tips:

To read more from the Freeformers Mapping the Digital Future report, download it here.

Are you fostering innovative ways of collaboration as a company? If so, leave us a comment below to tell us how. If you need help doing so, or to find out more about Freeformers, email futureofwork@freeformers.com.